The Heir and the Spare
by Becca6393
Summary: Patrick's thoughts kept drifting to his mission and the reason that mission. The reason was that he could not, in good conscience marry Mary and become earl. Pre-season 1
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1* The Heir Reluctant**

The train chugged on winding its way through the country. Inside one of the plush first class cars the future Lord Grantham, heir presumptive to Downton Abbey and intended for Lady Mary Crawley, sat nervously reading the paper. Patrick Crawley flipped through the pages of the newspaper listlessly and finally with decided annoyance folded the paper and up it on the seat next to him.

Patrick checked his watch. Time, it seemed, was passing very slowly as the train rolled on from London up to Manchester. Patrick felt for the case which was at his feet. He had not trusted it to the porter back in London. Instead he had clutched it close to him checking regularly that it still remained with him.

His thoughts kept drifting to his mission and the reason that mission. The reason was that he could not, in good conscience marry Mary and become earl. It was not who he was. He could not love her and the thought of being with her was more than he could stand forever. Maybe in the past, but not now. Now he knew and he could not go back to pretending she or any of the Crawley girls had any appeal to him.

A porter knocked and relayed the closing distance between the train and it's intended destination. Standing up The future lord Grantham straightened his tie and reached again for his case. As the train stopped with an unusual finesse, Patrick reached into the case and extracted a small notebook. With care he turned to a page on which was written two addresses. Checking his watch he started for the second.

From Victoria Station, He walked deliberately down one street to another and, finding Market Street, He turned down a side road until he found King Street. Scanning the street he saw it a familiar name jumped out from a small sign. Crawley and James, Solicitors, 62 King Street. The light from the lower windows spilled out into the twilight street. Inside there was a neat desk at which a young girl could be seen putting on her hat and coat. Patrick climbed the three steps and went in.

"Sorry, we are closing for the night." The young girl turned and saw the well-dressed gentleman. Stuttering slightly she started again, "I am sorry sir. You're not who I was expecting. Mr. James has gone home, but you could see Mr. Crawley. Shall I call him for you?"

"Thank you that would be good," answered the amused heir, "By the by who did you think I was?"

"Oh," The girl said as she started for the second office door, "There is a poor old beggar who seems to think Mr. James has stolen his fortune. He claims Mr. James took a priceless heirloom. Apparently he has made these assertions about all the past owners of this building. Mr. Crawley usually takes him back to his home explains the issue and promises to sue Mr. James for everything he's worth."

"Would he do it?"

"Oh no they are great friends, besides they mainly make wills and entails and such." answered the girl knocking on the office door.

From the second office a voice could be heard, "Come in Martha." The girl entered and, after a moment, a young man came out of the office with her.

"Sir," she said, "This is Mr. Mathew Crawley."

Turning to Martha the solicitor said, "Thank you Martha. You should go home now. Your brothers will be waiting." Nodding the girl turned off her desk lamp and closed the main door behind her.

Turning to the visitor, the solicitor said, "Matthew Crawley, what can I do for you?"

The heir looked at the young solicitor. He was of average height. His face was kind and soft. His eyes which seemed to question the strange personage were of pale blue. Patrick noted all this before answering, "Patrick Crawley. I believe we are some type of third cousins."

The young solicitors look changed quickly from confused to suspicions to happy and then said, " And what can I do for you?"

"Well," Started the young heir, "Let us sit and I will explain or if you prefer we could get dinner and I'll explain then."

The solicitor looked at his watch and then again at the well-dressed man claiming to be his relation. "Dinner it is. I've not had tea and I was forced to work through luncheon." He went to his office packed his papers up and put on his hat and coat. Looking around he grabbed the keys to the office and, dousing the light, he locked his personal office. He motioned towards the door and pulling the front door closed he locked the offices of James and Crawley, solicitors.

The streets were now lit as the solicitor lead the heir to a café. The owner came by and, once they had their food, the heir began his story.

" I am the heir presumptive to Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey. He is my cousin and, because he has no sons, at his death I will inherit the house, grounds, and title."

The young solicitor had no trouble believing that the man who at before him could in fact be of the peerage. He carried himself with an air and in such a place as the small café in which they now sat, he seemed quite out of place. "So your cousin the Earl has no children?"

" No," answered Patrick who had anticipated this line of inquiry, " In fact Cousin Robert, the Earl, had three daughters. Ladies Mary, Edith and Sybil ,who are all quite lovely, but they will not inherit. You see when Cousin Robert was young his father, the earl at the time, kept the house in poor condition and to support the restoration of the Abbey Cousin Robert married an American heiress. Cousin Cora brought the income the Abbey needed, but his father made the nuptial agreement in such a way as to tie Cousin Cora's money to the entail permanently. The entail states that everything goes to the next male heir. My cousins will get nothing."

"So," the confused solicitor asked, " what am I to do?"

"They want me to marry the oldest daughter Mary," stated the heir looking at his hands, "but I… I can't…and I just can't…" For the first time in his speech he faltered. What if the solicitor didn't understand, what if he did.

"You love someone else," presumed the other man, "and you don't want to be in a loveless marriage. I understand, but I can't see what it is you think I can do."

Love another person, thought the heir, yes it is close enough. Gathering his thoughts he said without tremor or regret in his voice, "I want you to take my place."

_Reviews are always welcome. I'm hoping to have another chapter up next week and reviews would help motivate me._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2* The Heir and the Spare**

_Love another person, thought the heir, yes it is close enough. Gathering his thoughts he said without tremor or regret in his voice, "I want you to take my place."_

Matthew Crawley nearly choked at the statement of the man on the other side of the table. Wiping his mouth he collected his thoughts and said quickly, "I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean in the slightest."

"It is exactly what I said," answered Patrick graciously, "I want you to take my place. I cannot do it. Marry that poor girl and leave her in a loveless marriage. I looked into the entail and the line of succession. It is possible for me to give it up. It would not be easy, but it could be done. You are next in line after me. I wanted to offer it to you before I abdicated and went away."

" So... you would like me to marry one of the ladies even though you won't. Why should I do it?" asked the solicitor gaining annoyance as he thought about being forced into an arranged marriage.

"No I…I just want to be sure they will be cared for. Whether or not you marry one of them is up to you. But you want to marry…yes?"

"Well, yes. I would like to marry and raise a family. Somewhere, in the country with space and a garden."

"Then you would love the Abbey. It is a magnificent building with so many rooms. The girls and I used to play throughout the rooms and into the grounds. We used to play knights in the grounds. Lady Sybil and I would attack and try to save the fair pup Venus from the evil knights Mary and Edith. They used to be great friends before they learned about the entail."

"Why did the entail matter?"

"Well Edith fancies that we love one another. She had decided we were going to marry long ago when she was very young, but Lord and Lady Grantham decided that because of the entail Mary and should be wed. Truthfully I do prefer Edith's company to Mary's, she is like a dear sister, but I still would not marry her without love." Patrick answered both trying to tell the truth and not admit too much about his own love.

"So you want me to do what exactly? Just appear ruining everyone's plans and upsetting everything? They would hate me," said the solicitor.

"Not if they knew you and if you were…well we will just have to make them," Patrick answered with a flustered air.

"Fine," answered Matthew sensing his new friend was uncomfortable, "How do we begin?"

"Well we need to make you a future earl. You will need to understand the proper etiquette, to round out your knowledge, to understand the inner workings of an estate, to get used to staff….

Six Weeks Later –London

Lady Rosamund Painswick was attending the Bernard's dinner party. It was the off season, but Lord Francis Bernard did not particularly like the country so he gave some rather good dinners. Lady Painswick was not his particular friend, but Lord Painswick, God rest him, had been good friends with him since school and Lord Bernard always remembered her in his guest list. Entering the parlor Rosamund noted that, for an off season party, the room was rather full. She scanned the room and saw several people she knew. Her eyes landed on Patrick Crawley. He was accompanied by a blond young man whom she had never seen before and the Duke of Crowborough. It was the blonde man who most interested her. Rosamund took pride in being able to identify all of the young, eligible me of town to her Mama, but this man was unknown.

Moving to stand with a group of ladies with whom she was well acquainted, Rosamund set to determining the facts about the blue eyed gentleman. The conversation was, conveniently, about the young man in question. He had been seen earlier in the week at a hunt at Anthony Strallan's estate with the Duke of Crowborough and Mr. Crawley. The word was that, although he shot very poorly, he had behaved with gentile manners and was, in fact, better to converse with than the host of that party.

Looking away from his companions Patrick noticed his cousin Rosamund watching Matthew. He turned to the lawyer and said quietly, "This is the first real test…" and then in a louder voice he said, "Come Matthew, meet the lovely Lady Painswick.

The night progressed swimmingly on Matthew's part. Everyone found his work droll, his manners charming, and the coincidence of his last name funny. On reentering the drawing room after his glass of port, he joined the ladies for a card game, which he skillfully lost so that the young ladies might win.

As the evening drew to a close he and Patrick wished everyone a goodnight. Matthew watched as Patrick's hand lingered on the arm of the Duke. Over the past few months he had begun to understand why his friend would not marry one of Lord Grantham's daughters. He was not interested in them.

"Patrick," he ventured to ask as the entered the taxi, "How do you plan to get them to release you from your duties as heir?"

"I hadn't even thought of it," answered Patrick. For a moment he thought Matthew had finally caught on to him and Crowborough, but maybe he had not. He returned to their conversation and asked "Would it be complicated?"

"It depends on the entail. Unfortunately, if it is as you described, it does not seem like we have the ability to break it. Neither of us is the heir apparent so we cannot dissolve it. It would take a special bill to even try to dismantle it and that would have to be based on the rule against perpetuities…"

Here Patrick cut over his companion's legal knowledge to ask, "The rule against perpetuities?"

"It says that you cannot try to control the movement of property long after your death, but even that is a weak argument. The only thing I can think of to cause the turnover is your death." answered Matthew, "We may have made me a well behaved gentleman for nothing."

"No," said Patrick, "I'm sure there is something. We will talk about it when I get back."

"Back? From where?"

"America. My father and I are sailing a week from today on the Titanic."

"Well, when you return I will have laid out all our options. Best of luck on your travels." answered Matthew stepping out of the taxi at his rented rooms.

"And to you in making our plans worthwhile. Goodbye Matthew I'll see you in a month." replied Patrick pulling the door of the taxi shut and giving directions to his on home.

April 16 was an alarming day for Matthew Crawley as news reached England that the Titanic the unsinkable ship had sunk bringing many passengers to their deaths. When the paper published the final list of the lost, Matthew began to pack.

"Darling," his mother Isobel, "What are you doing?"

"Obviously, I'm packing." responded her son tersely.

"Yes I can see that, but why?" she rephrased her question ignoring the bite to her only son's voice.

"I have a funeral to attend for a friend who was on the Titanic. Now if you'll excuse me. I don't want to miss my train." Kissing her forehead her son left his mother in a confused state trying, but not succeeding in recalling who of their acquaintance who had been making the trans-Atlantic journey.

The memorial service for Patrick and his father was held on a calm April morning two weeks after the Titanic sunk in the stone church near Downton Abbey. In one of the back rows sitting up straight, but careful to keep out of view was a blonde blue eyed man with a very strange letter in his pocket.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 * The Spare becomes the Heir**

_In one of the back rows sitting up straight, but careful to keep out of view was a blonde blue eyed man with a very strange letter in his pocket._ After the service the family, excepting Lady Sybil who stayed to accept condolences, began the walk back to Downton. Lord Grantham walked at the head of the line with his solicitor. They conversed quietly about the entail. Mary and Edith walked behind them. Mary watched the body language the solicitor and the Earl carefully. She could see that her father was upset, but what that meant for her she was unsure. A muffled sob came from her middle sister. "Edith," Mary said scornfully, "it's not like you were marrying him?"

"No," Edith replied with a snap, "You were, but I was the one who loved him."

"Yes, you did, but it was an option for you. I had to marry him. I was going to have to live out my days attached to a man who had no interest in me." Mary answered defensively.

The sisters were both silent for a moment. Then Mary continued, "If I could have given him to you, I would have. You two could have been happy, but we could not have. I'm sorry Edith it is as much a loss for you as it is for me."

Edith walked quietly next to her. The girls continued to process towards the house in somber silence.

In front of them the solicitor and Earl's conversation was coming to an end. The end they both feared, one for the sake of his daughter one for fright of the dowager. It was clear that, without a special bill in parliament the money could not be separated from the entail and, even if it was, the damage to the estate would be irreparable. The taxes due on the estate would be impossible to generate and the estate would soon fall into disrepair.

"May I interest you in staying to luncheon?" asked the Earl, expecting the answer.

The solicitor looked nervously back past the Earl's daughters to the scowling older woman behind them. The dowager was in true form. Her condolences had been given and now her focus was on the living, not the dead. With a bit of a stutter the frightened man answered, "Thank you for the k-kind offer, but I must return to London."

"I have a car waiting for our return to the house," the earl responded. The solicitor looked shocked and slightly ashamed.

"Do not worry yourself," said the earl noting his companion's discomfort, "If I could avoid mother's coming tirade by going to London I assure you I would." As they reached the house, the two parted ways. It was gloomy, thought the Lord of Downton Abbey, to know I cannot provide for my daughters beyond making them good women. Lord Grantham shook himself from the thought and brought himself back to the equally solemn subject at hand.

Back in the chapel, Lady Sybil Crawley shook hands with the last of the mourners. She had been left behind and was almost sick of hearing how much Patrick had been loved, how kind he was, how generous, how noble, she knew this. He was amazing and he would be missed, but he was also dead. Why hadn't these people recognized his quality while he was living?

Looking around the chapel, Sybil noticed that there was one man who was still sitting. He was well dressed, but Sybil did not think he was one of the nobility, her mama had be sure to invite all the nobility back to the house for refreshments and shameless matchmaking. The man sat seemingly wrapped in his own thoughts staring at an envelope which he held in his hands.

Sybil walked down the aisle and sat next to the young man, "Sir," she asked, "…did you know my cousin well?"

The young man looked up surprised by the question which had broken the silence. He looked around the room and then stood suddenly. He looked back at her and bowed before returning to his seat. "I believe I would have liked to know your cousin well." He seemed to collect his thoughts in the pause between his first sentence and the second. "He was very kind to me. I… I never thanked him for the kindness and friendship he showed me."

Matthew could hear his voice shaking as he spoke with the young lady he assumed was Lady Sybil Crawley. The lady, whom he could not bear to look at, sighed and her voice shook as she said, "He was going to come home to us next month after he came back from America. He was always so at home here. We played…as children. We would run and run and play until it was dark. And as we got older, he never treated me like I was still a child. I miss him…"

"He always said you were smarter than anyone saw." The words tumbled from Matthew's lips before he could check them. As if a dam had been released he continued, "He loves…loved visiting you all. He was looking forward to coming back to the house and seeing you. He talked about the three of you."

"What did he say?" asked the young lady who had sat down next to him.

"I'm not sure you would like it," stalled Mathew, "He was very frank about you and your family."

"Go on. I've never cared what people knew and Patrick knew us so well. If he said it well…just tells me."

"He said everyone in Downton had secrets. He said Lady Mary's is that she is afraid to be poor and alone. He said that she hides in sarcasm and haughty behavior." Matthew admitted slowly.

Lady Sybil's snort seemed to urge him on, "Patrick said that Lady Edith's secret was that she truly does not believe she is as important as you or Lady Mary."

"And mine…" The young woman asked.

"You… you work hard to get your father's approval, but you do not agree with him. Patrick said you give in too easily or you hold on to tightly to beliefs. Patrick said even he had secrets, not that I ever...I never found out what he was hiding, but it wouldn't have mattered to me. He knew mine and I would not have judged him for his." finished Matthew now suddenly embarrassed by his outburst.

"Don't worry" said Sybil, "I think Patrick was right about us, and if he trusted you enough to talk about us then I trust you too. Wait where are my manners? Will you come to the luncheon?"

"No you would not want me if you knew" muttered Matthew.

"Knew what? What can be so bad that you think we would not welcome you? "asked Sybil innocently.

"I am the new heir." replied Matthew, "I will be the one to inherit even though you and your sisters are the ones who have lived here and who care for the abbey. I will get it because my friend died in that water and because I am a man and Lady Mary is not."


End file.
